Summary
The eighth Republican presidential debate is in the can. Here’s a summary of what we learned:
- New Jersey governor Chris Christie ambushed Florida senator Marco Rubio by laying bare Rubio’s rhetoric as repetitive, rehearsed and off-point. “You have not been involved in a consequential decision,” Christie told Rubio.
-
Rubio seemed shaken by the attack, repeating a single sentence, about the fiction of Barack Obama not knowing what he was doing, three times.
- The debate got off to a rocky start, as retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson declined to take the stage upon being introduced, apparently not having heard the moderator introduce him. He lingered awkwardly.
- Very awkwardly:
- Donald Trump handled a question about his use of eminent domain to evict an elderly lady from a planned New Jersey casino parking lot with aplomb, saying the Keystone XL pipeline, for example, “would not get 10 feet” without eminent domain.
- But Trump was booed when he attacked the crowd for booing him. “We needed tickets. You can’t get them.” Booed and booed and booed.
- Ohio governor John Kasich told voters that if he’s elected president, they better “go out and buy a seatbelt,” because he’s going to hit the gas in his first 100 days.
- Trump and Cruz both said they would “bring back” waterboarding, which both said did not constitute torture.
- Bernie Sanders was on Saturday Night Live!
Updated
The moment ragamuffin Bernie enters shaking his finger at upscale David, via a RT by Sanders feed, which is working not to squander the media moment:
Bernie, Larry. Larry, Bernie. #SNL pic.twitter.com/mntyZvvCOC
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) February 7, 2016
"Things in New Hampshire are pretty, pretty, pretty good!" Help us win: https://t.co/OtDJlNtrLC #BernieOnSNL
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 7, 2016
OK, why not. What’s everybody think of 1975? How many people are in this band?
They’re back - Sanders and David. Just onstage, dressed like themselves.
“So Bernie,” David asks. “How are things going in New Hampshire?”
“OK,” Sanders says.
“Just OK?”
“Well it’s pretty, pretty, pretty pretty good,” Sanders says, in a Curb Your Enthusiasm line.
Then they introduce the musical act, 1975.
And here’s Sanders! He has a cameo in the shipwreck skit.
The setup is that Larry David is a distinguished passenger who tries to take a lifeboat on his sinking ship based on his wealth and social position.
Enter Sanders, in a social justice intervention.
“Hold on hold on wait a second. I am so sick of the 1% getting this preferntial treatment. Enough is enough . We need to unite and get together if we’re going to get through this!” Sanders says. He’s dressed like a ragamuffin from 100 years ago.
“Sounds like socialism to me,” says the David character.
“Democratic socialism,” says Sanders.
“What’s the difference?” asks David.
Fun back-and-forth here, with them both leaning on the sinking-ship-rail.
“Yuge difference,” says Sanders.
“Huge?”
“Yuge! Huge with a ‘y’.”
“Who are you?” asks David.
“I am Bernie Sandersowsky, but we’re going to change it when we get to America so it doesn’t sound quite so Jewish.”
“That’ll trick ’em.”
Punch line:
Sanders: “Share a cab?”
David: “Eh. I think we’ve talked enough.”
Updated
Sanders points followers to Saturday Night Live, which now is airing a Titanic skit. Or a story of some other high-society shipwreck from a hundred years ago.
What did I think of the #GOPDebate? Not good enough. Watch @nbcsnl instead. https://t.co/Gb480jVtuH
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 7, 2016
The shtick is that Sanders shares all of David’s worst inclinations, famous from David’s show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. David-as-Sanders just told a member of staff to Eff Off.
The spot is supposedly directed by Bernie Sanders.
UPDATE: While there was a title card that said as much, Bernie Sanders did not in fact direct this Saturday Night Live skit.
D-a-S runs into a voter who has dislocated her shoulder in a car accident. She needs his help to “pop it back in” to get to the polls before they close.
D-a-S: Are you nuts? Go to a hospital? I don’t pop. I’m not a popper.
Voter: But the polls close in an hour. If you want my vote, pop it back in.
D-a-S: I don’t want it that bad.
The skit ends with D-a-S watching results come in from Iowa.
“Point-2%!?!” he yells. “How many people is that?!”
“It’s like five people!”
“Five people!’
The gag is that they’re watching a Clinton victory celebration on TV, and there in the crowd... is the car-crash voter, with her arm in a sling, and a Clinton sticker on the sling.
Updated
Oh wait, here we are: Bern Your Enthusiasm, is the premise of the Sanders / David skit.
Although for now we only get David, as Bernie Sanders at a presidential rally.
In this skit, Sanders shares David’s phobias about germs, and refuses to shake the hand of a voter who had coughed into her hand.
David-as-Sanders gets into a fight with the voter.
“I am running for president, I do not shake disgusting hands!” he says.
The voter replies: “Really, Bernie?!?”
We’re not going to blog portions of Saturday Night Live not starring Bernie Sanders. We’re not going to blog portions of Saturday Night Live not starring Bernie Sanders.
Here’s a picture from the debate spin room, where Guardian political reporter Ben Jacobs is chasing interviews:
Never forget the debate assistants. #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/cPZEjsmU64
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) February 7, 2016
NB: Larry David is 68 years old. Six years younger than Bernie Sanders.
David is on to the topic of dating. Do we need to narrate this portion of the monologue to you, our politics audience? Bernie Sanders isn’t onstage. This is pretty funny though. Tune in, we’d say. If you made it through that three-hour debate broadcast, there is literally no possible way on Earth you will be disappointed.
Here’s the monologue. Larry David walks out. The actual Larry David not Bernie Sanders-as-Larry David. Not that anyone expects Sanders to try a David impression tonight. What do we expect? We don’t even know. That’s part of the thrill. David says something about having a dipless house. And his transition from a poor shmuck to a rich prick.
“I’m not that much happier as a prick than a shmuck,” he says.
It’s a seamless transition from the Republican debate.
Updated
Sanders set to star on Saturday Night Live
Here comes Bernie Sanders and Saturday Night Live. It’s the cold open of the show. A Ted Cruz impersonation. That guy doesn’t look a thing like Bernie Sanders. Oh it’s Taran Killam.
But this is a pretty good line:
Folks, we’ve had presidents who were governors, generals. Isn’t it time we had a president who was just a nasty little weasel?
Updated
Video: Rubio uses same line about Obama three times
Christie is already fundraising off his mauling of Rubio tonight.
Agree?
Agree? Donate to my campaign today: https://t.co/sCMXKexHuj #micdrop #Christie2016 pic.twitter.com/LPZ4Dca0we
— Chris Christie (@ChrisChristie) February 7, 2016
(h/t: @lgamgam)
Marco Rubio won the debate... in terms of Google searches coming out of New Hampshire. Which may only indicate that Granite Staters were trying to figure out what the buzz about Rubio getting into some kind of trouble was?
Note that the Rubio searches, rankings-wise at least, seemed to intensify later in the evening – a while after his memorable encounter with Chris Christie’s fists:
From the comments / Who won?
We asked, you answered – and here’s a sampler:
Wow. OK. The most significant thing that happened tonight - really, the only thing that stands out - is that Trump is repeatedly getting booed. Very badly booed. Very unusual to hear the crowd heckle a candidate like that. The mood of the party is really turning against him.
Some strange stuff. Kasich, Christie and Bush seem human, obviously with their own agendas. Carson is a half asleep zombie who thinks he's being alternative. Cruz is toning down his religion and seeming serious, but dull. Rubio rattled early. Trump manages to say nothing of substance at all.
Extra credit to Huples, who was brave enough to take on every single question we posed – though we’re not sure Jeb Bush is going to win American Idol:
Who won? Christie
Who’s winning? Trump
Who’s going to win the Super Bowl? Carson
Who do you like on American Idol? Jeb! he's got energy
Was Isis onstage tonight?
Is Rubio’s abortion stance “evolving”, asks Lucia Graves?
Tonight Christie sought to draw a distinction with Rubio on abortion, an area where the candidates have diverged in the past.
While Rubio only supports abortions to save the life of the mother - and not for cases of rape or incest - he has indicated in interviews that he would sign abortion legislation without such provisions were he president.
Tonight he seemed to go a step further calling a woman’s right to make choices about her body “a real right”.
Christie has attacked Rubio over not making exceptions for rape in his personal politics before, and when a moderator asked if he was being “harmful to the pro-life cause” by doing so Christie was happy to argue
the point. “If a woman has been raped… this is not a woman’s choice but a woman being violated,” he said.
It would seem to be impossible to argue with that statement but welcome to the Republican debates on women’s health ... Nevertheless, both Rubio’s rhetoric and Christie’s retort signal we may be seeing some progress, or uh, evolution here.
Here’s how Twitter experienced the debate tonight – with thanks to the Twitter metrics team:
Top moments on Twitter:
1. Trump tells Bush to be quiet. Continues to be booed by audience.
2. Rubio: “I think conservatism is about three things...”3. “There it is” --Christie to Rubio on his 25 second stump speech.
Final #GOPDebate share of Twitter conversation:
-Trump 29%
-Rubio 18%
-Cruz 14%
-Bush 9%
-Christie 8%
Most-Tweeted topics during #GOPDebate:
1. Foreign Affairs and National Security
2. Healthcare
3. The Economy
That’s it, they’re done. Who won? Don’t hold back, let’s hear it in the comments.
And who do you think is going to win this upcoming Bernie Sanders- Larry David thing?
Closing statements
Kasich: 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire. Loved every second. I’ve had your hugs. Conservative message, positive message. Bring people together. Please give me a chance. I’ll be back.
Christie: 13 years of my life serving the people. People first. War on terrorism. Hurricane Sandy. Proud to be here. I’ve spent 70 days here. You’ve gotten to know my heart. Vote for me I’ll fix it.
Bush: Thanks New Hampshire. Ronald Reagan is 105. We need someone with a proven record. Peace through strength. I can take our party to victory. Thanks.
Carson: The political class and pundits and media try to bury me. Guess what? I’m still here, and I’m not going anyplace, either. Faith, integrity and common sense.
Rubio: My kids campaigned with me this week. I was reminded what’s at stake. [Cut to TV shot of kids. Wow cute kids. Vote Rubio.] Single greatest nation etc.
Cruz: Everybody says they’ll stand up to Washington. Last week in Iowa I opposed ethanol. [It’s true.] Governor of state attacked me. Iowa put country above cronyism. We can fix it. The ethanol close.
Trump: “That’s because he got Ben Carson’s votes by the way, but we won’t say that.” Ooh! Our country doesn’t win anymore. New Hampshire is addicted to heroin. China is killing us on trade. If I’m elected president, we will win and we will win and we will win.
That’s it! They’re done.
Updated
Epic commercial break before these closing statements. Gives us time to think about what’s up next:
Saturday Night Live
With Bernie Sanders vs. Larry David. Worth the wait, wethinks.
OK final commercial break. Closing statements next! Who won? Who’s winning? Weigh in now! Who’s going to win the Super Bowl? Who do you like on American Idol?
Candidates think Carolina wins Super Bowl
Lightning round: Who wins Super Bowl?
Kasich: South Carolina.
Bush: Peyton Manning likes me. Denver.
Rubio: Carolina.
(Bush’s PR guy liked that one.)
Marco just flipped his Super Bowl pick out of spite.
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) February 7, 2016
Trump: Carolina.
Cruz: With an eye to November, Carolina.
Carson: With absolute certainty, I will predict a winner: Either Denver or Carolina.
Christie: Denver.
---
UPDATE: Sports fact check from the Guardian US sports editor Tom Lutz:
Kasich, Rubio, Trump and Cruz are right. And technically Ben Carson too.
Tough luck, Christie and Bush. After all that work on the ground in New Hampshire, too.
---
Pretty shamelessly shallow from all on a night when Rubio’s scripted campaigning spirit has set the pundits afire:
Most self-destructive debate performance since Quayle ’88 and J.B. Stockdale ’92: Rubio.
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) February 7, 2016
Updated
War of rhetoric on abortion ratchets up to 'murder of children'
Rubio is asked how to speak to millennials on same-sex marriage and abortion?
Guess what: Rubio has a smooth answer about same-sex marriage and abortion.
“The issue of life is not a political issue, it is a human rights issue,” Rubio says. He calls the woman’s right to choose what to do with her body “a real right”.
RUBIO: "On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body, which is a real right."
— katherine krueger (@kath_krueger) February 7, 2016
But the right of the foetus to life outweighs.
He calls Democrats “extremists on the issue of abortion.” He’s vigorously applauded.
Then a bit of a mini-debate breaks out on abortion:
Bush says he’s pro-life, except for cases of rape, incest, and the mother’s life being in danger. He calls it a “sweet-spot” position for the Republican nominee. Not that there are political calculations going into his thinking here.
Rubio: “I do support an exception for the life of the mother, because I’m pro-life.”
Which isn’t new ...
Rubio, as he has said in interviews, acknowledges he'll sign abortion legislation with or without rape/incest exceptions.
— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) February 7, 2016
... but:
Rubio says he would “rather lose an election, than be wrong on the issue of life.” What do you think, is that true?
Christie, after equating abortion to “the murder of children”, says that in cases of rape and incest, abortion should be an option, as a “self-defense”. “That woman should not have to carry that child.”
Updated
Lucia Graves examines Ted Cruz’s comments about whether waterboarding is torture.
“Under the definition of torture, no it’s not,” Cruz said. “Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture.”
Torture has been defined as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person” by the United Nations. And in 2014 The International Committee of the Red Cross ruled that waterboarding fit the definition of torture.
The technique, which involves covering a person’s face with cloth and pouring water over it repeated to simulate the effect of drowning, was dubbed one of many “enhanced interrogation techniques” infamously used by the George W Bush administration administration. And that is how Cruz argued it should be classified tonight.
But since those techniques were employed by the Bush administration, and in particular following the release of a Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA interrogations in 2014 - a 500-plus page report detailing the effectiveness of some of the harshest interrogation techniques employed by the United States - “enhanced interrogation techniques” has widely come to be viewed as a euphemism for torture.
Technically speaking, whether waterboarding fits the definition of torture depends on whether it can be said that making a person feel like they’re drowning can be considered enacting severe suffering. It’s a somewhat subjective matter but I’m going to go with yes.
Updated
Trump takes the question. “I know Diane Foley [James’ mother] very well,” Trump says. “I raised a lot of money for the foundation.”
“That said, you cannot negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do that, you’re going to have so many other James Foleys.”
And on the vets, Trump does not let to go unmentioned:
“During the last debate, I raised $6m for the vets.”
Now a question about James Foley, a New Hampshire native, and a journalist killed by Isis militants in Syria.
Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for loved ones?
“Putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans,” Cruz says.
Is Cruz tired? He tries to refer to “loved ones and family members” and calls them “love members.” Then he calls Bowe Bergdahl “James Bergdahl.”
Kasich says that experience in the military should translate to civilian licenses, college credits and other accreditations based on their military experience.
“Everybody wants to hire a veteran,” Kasich says. “There should be no unemployment among veterans.”
“Let’s lift them. They’re the greatest people taking care of the United States of America, and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will.”
Updated
Next question: how to fix the veterans administration?
Bush says people in the VA should have been fired when routine long waiting lists were revealed. He says he met someone at a town hall this morning who was a veteran informed by the VA that he had died. “This is outrageous,” he says.
“I met him. And he’s voting for me!”
Updated
Only 40 minutes to go! Can Rubio claw back?
The opinionators are already beginning to call this one of his worst sweatiest performances yet:
Unforgiving close-up of Rubio shows him sweating heavily. Very hard night for him #GOPDebate
— Jonathan Freedland (@Freedland) February 7, 2016
Yikes… the sweat bomb…
— mike murphy (@murphymike) February 7, 2016
Or maybe it’s working?
Rubio has more NH Google searches than Trump during the debate. And I think this is probably good for him. pic.twitter.com/9b5toFRCAX
— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) February 7, 2016
Updated
Christie says he has two daughters and if a young woman wants to fight for her country, she should be allowed to do so.
“Anything they can dream, anything they want to aspire to, they can do.”
Carson jumps in too, on the draft. “Fourteen per cent decrease in the number of people applying for military service,” he says. And mentions veteran suicide. He strays from the point of the draft to his plan for veterans. “They should have health empowerment accounts ... If we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won’t ever have to worry about the draft again.” Unclear how that tracks.
Updated
Here’s the asterisk for Bush. “The draft’s not going to be reinstituted. We don’t have a draft. I’m not suggesting we have a draft.”
So he’s OK with women being required to sign up for selective service, so long as there’s no possibility of them being called up?
Candidates support selective service subscription for women
Rubio is asked about young women signing up for selective service in case the draft is reinstated.
Rubio says there are already women serving today in roles that are like combat. He says he supports women in combat. And he believes that selective service should be opened up for both men and women.
The deeper problem, he says, is the shrinking of the military.
Bush agrees with Rubio on selective service subscription. “If women can meet the minimum requirements for combat, they ought to be allowed to do it.
Updated
Carson is asked about Zika. “This is going to be obviously a big deal,” Carson says. But he would not “willy-nilly go out and quarantine a bunch of people because they’ve been to Brazil”.
Updated
Christie would consider Zika quarantine
Christie takes a question about Zika virus – and his decision to quarantine an American nurse who had traveled to Ebola-infected West Africa.
Would he maybe quarantine people, if Zika virus deepens, who’d traveled affected areas in Brazil?
“You bet I would. You have to remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms.. had been treating patients.”
He stands by the decision.
Rubio is asked whether he would visit a mosque as president.
He says he would, but that the country has to confront the threat posed by radical Islamic terror.
Trump turns 'Ferguson effect' into love letter to police
They’re back! Trump us asked how he would bridge the divide between police and communities they serve, as ABC’s Muir cites the discredited, unscientific so-called “Ferguson effect” invoked by the FBI director.
Trump’s sympathies lie with the police. “The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order,” he says.
“Minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country,” Trump says.
He says police are afraid about their pensions because of videos on the local news. “They’re afraid for their jobs,” he says.
“We have to give great respect... to our really fantastic police.”
.@realDonaldTrump ignoring point of question re race aspect of police abuse in his strong defense of police. #GOPDebate #ABCDebate
— Lynn Sweet (@lynnsweet) February 7, 2016
But how would he bridge the divide?
Of the families, Trump says:
They sue. Everybody sues. They go out. They sue. We have so much litigation. You know what? We don’t want to have excessive force. But at what point can you do his job... you’re going to have abuse and you’re going to have problems.. but you have to weed out the problems.
Kasich jumps in: “There can be a win-win here.” He talks about a law-enforcement-community-leaders collaborative he formed to make recommendations on police recruiting, hiring and the use of deadly force.
“We love the police, but we’ve got to be responsive to the people and the communities.”
Applause for trickeration.
We knew a Trump answer to a police brutality question would be full of fuckery. But so was the question itself. Ferguson Effect, again?
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) February 7, 2016
Updated
Talk times so far: Low for Kasich.
Talk times after 2nd break, per @barbarasprunt:
— Domenico Montanaro (@DomenicoNPR) February 7, 2016
Cruz: 15:28
Rubio: 12:58
Trump: 12:04
Christie: 8:48
Bush: 7:55
Kasich: 7:37
Carson: 6:06
Second commercial break! They’re doing them hourly. Doesn’t give us much time to dip into the comments. How are you reading this thing? That second hour was not quite as electrifying as the first.
Note to Bush, Christie, Carson, maybe Kasich – when you come back, you may in effect have an hour left to make your 2016 presidential campaigns breathe. (Unless debates don’t matter.)
Updated
Same question for Carson: First of all, I think it would be a fairly easy contrast between myself and Hillary Clinton.
He says Clinton is “known to be deceitful,” then he starts talking about Benghazi, which he says he will never let go.
“I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way.”
Rubio says the changing of the narrative of the arrival of the first woman president is “already happening.” He cites Iowa turnout and attendance at Republican rallies.
“Here’s what Hillary Clinton needs to understand... we’re going to bring this party together, and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be president.”
Question for Trump: How do you run against Hillary Clinton, who will be running to make history as the first woman president?
Trump points to the polls, of course. “We’ve created a movement,” Trump says. “We will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton.”
“I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily.”
Q for Christie: Would you chase drug enforcement into Mexico, without the cooperation of Mexican government?
“Of course I would,” Christie says. He says that first-time drug offenders in New Jersey go to treatment, not to prison, and the result has been dropping prison populations.
“This is a disease. It’s not a moral failing. It’s a disease and we need to get people help.”
Christie says he’s pro-live, and that means support for addicts.
Next question: 48% of New Hampshirites knows somebody who has abused heroin. Question is for Cruz, who told a personal story about a family member who struggled with addiction. What can you say to show people you understand the danger of the problem?
And Cruz tells a tragic and moving story about his older half sister Miriam.
Cruz says her older half sister struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. She went to jail. “She ended up spending some time in a crack house.” She says she drove with his dad to try to get his sister, Miriam, out of the crack house.
She wouldn’t come. “She was angry.”
About five or six years ago, she died of an overdose. “This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it.”
More here on the crisis:
Updated
Kasich: If I'm president, buckle up
Kasich says as president, you need to have an agenda in “the first hundred days.” Then he rattles off what he would do.
Kasich:
If I get elected tomorrow, go out tomorrow and buy a seatbelt, because there’s going to be so much happening, it’ll make your head spin!”
That’s applauded with some vigor.
Kasich says the problem with Washington is not that there are too many deals. It’s that there’s no leadership.
“The point is, you have to work with people....” and Obama does not. “Since he’s given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He’s not a king, he’s a president.”
In Ohio, Kasich says, “I don’t trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them.”
Trump’s invited to talk about making deals as president. This is his dream question?
“A good dealmaker will make great deals but will do it in a way our founders thought it should be done. People will get together, they’ll make deals,” he says.
You have to get people in, grab ‘em, hug ‘em, kiss ‘em and get the deal done. But it has to be the deal that you want.
Ted Cruz says “on day one, I will rescind every single illegal and extra-constitutional executive action Barack Obama has done.”
“Obama is abusing executive power.”
He says he would also change Obama’s foreign policy and also be better at legislation. Because he has so many friends in Congress.
REMINDER:
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) February 7, 2016
Reagan: 381 executive actions
Obama: 228 executive actions
Updated
Trump: I'd bring back 'a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding'
Q for Cruz: Is waterboarding torture?
“Well, under the definition of torture, no, it’s not,” he says. “Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture.”
But this from Cruz:
I would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed I’d join with Senator McCain in prohibiting line officers from employing it.
Trump takes the waterboarding question. He breathes fire on the issue.
“In the Middle East, we have people chopping the head off Christians... we have never seen before what’s happening right now. ... I would bring back waterboarding, and I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
Some guy in the audience goes, “Yeah!”
Same for Bush: “It was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I think where we stand is the appropriate place.”
Same for Rubio: We shouldn’t talk about specific tactics in the war on terror. But we’d get them.
In case you're wondering, Rubio opposed the Senate amendment that banned the use of torture https://t.co/kd7vJe5IK3
— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) February 7, 2016
Updated
Here’s Marco Rubio saying his rehearsed line several times over the course of three minutes earlier this evening:
That’s from a rival campaign, but, well:
True story: 8-year-old daughter walks through room as Rubio says,"Obama knows exactly what he's doing" and says, "Didn't he just say that?"
— Willie Geist (@WillieGeist) February 7, 2016
Carson takes the question. I want to talk about this, he says, “because I’m not just here to lend beauty to the stage.”
“I would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes” if the military people agreed, in Libya, Carson says.
He basically says he would punt the question to the Pentagon:
“None of us up here is a military expert... if we actually sit down and talk with [the Pentagon] and get their impression... we can decide.”
Bush calls for renewed air strikes on Libya
Raddatz vs Bush: You supported strikes on Libya. Would you support renewed air strikes?
“I would. And I would do it in concert with Arab allies and Europe.”
Then this, from the brother of George W Bush:
This is the lesson learned in history, if you bomb something and not do anything with the aftermath of this, you end up with [chaos], you end up with Libya.
You have to lead. With out the United States, nothing seems to work.
Now Raddatz confronts Trump: How would you get rid of Isis ‘quickly’ as you’ve said?
Four years ago, he says, “I said bomb the oil and take the oil.” He talks about bombing the oil. “You have to knock the hell out of the oil, you have to take the oil, and you also have back channels of banking... we have to stop those circuits. Nobody knows banking better than I do. They have back circuits, back channels.
Follow-up: What about Isis-occupied cities full of civilians?
Trump says “When you stop the oil and take the oil... when you do that, it’s going to dry up very quickly, they’re going to become a very weakened power, quickly.
Rubio calls for increased air strikes on Isis “not just in Iraq and Syria, but around the world.” He supports a regional ground force led by the United States.
Raddatz presses him: you’ve called Isis “the most dangerous group in history.” Why not commit a large US ground force?
Because they occupy Sunni cities, Rubio says. “It will take Sunni fighters themselves in the region to take those cities and villages and to hold them.”
If not, Rubio says, “you are going to have a successor group to Isis, just as it is a successor group to al Qaeda.”
He’s handling himself well in a high-pressure line of questioning from Raddatz.
Cruz is asked whether he would expand the rules of engagement to fight Isis and other militant groups in Iraq and Syria.
Cruz says yes. “We are sending [soldiers] in to fight with their arms tied behind their backs... it is wrong.
“We should use overwhelming force, kill the enemy and then get the heck out.”
Then loosen the rules of engagement?
“Absolutely, yes,” Cruz says.
Then Raddatz asks Cruz about his strategy to carpet-bomb Isis. What kind of strategy is that?
“Now when I say saturation carpet bombing, that’s not indiscriminate,” Cruz says.
Doesn’t sound like it.
"When I say saturation carpet bombing I don't mean indiscriminate." @tedcruz is speaking in tongues again.
— Richard Wolffe (@richardwolffedc) February 7, 2016
Updated
Then Christie gives a super-solid Republican answer on the dangers of taxation.
To the 68% of Americans who believe there need to be higher taxes on the rich, “I want to tell you the truth. You’re wrong, and here’s why you’re wrong”:
After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost in the next four years, $70bn in revenues.
It’s a failed idea, it’s failed policy, it’s class warfare.
Bush: 'grow more millionaires'
Rubio elbows in, because Christie attacked him. And once again Rubio attacks Obama. A non-response to Christie. Rubio is booed a bit, as if the crowd has ingested Christie’s critique of him as a one-note piano.
Then Rubio takes a tax question. He says business taxes are too high and “the solutions to the problems we have today are not a tax increase.”
Bush takes the tax question. 68% of Americans believe that the richest should pay higher taxes, Muir says. Does Bush agree?
I’d like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires... this notion that we’re undertaxed as a nation is just foolhardy.
The three biggest questions in America right now, apparently:
Top questions on @Google right now:
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) February 7, 2016
1) What is eminent domain?
2) What time is the Super Bowl?
3) Where is my tax refund?#GOPDebate
Google Trends also tells us that searches for “Is Ben Carson still running for President?” went up by 275% around the beginning of tonight’s debate ... back when this happened:
This, too:
I am preemptively declaring this the moment that sums up the night: pic.twitter.com/1o65UVKsVQ
— Katherine Mangu-Ward (@kmanguward) February 7, 2016
Updated
Unlike Marco Rubio, frontrunner Donald Trump has not taken too many direct assaults, or “incoming” as he calls it in his speeches, so far tonight, points out Ben Jacobs in Manchester.
However, Trump reacted shakily to a question about eminent domain, the power of the government to seize property for “public use”. While its use is not controversial for government projects like roads or bridges, it is for economic development projects led by private property owners. In particular, Trump has been criticized for trying to have an elderly woman’s house in Atlantic City seized for a limousine parking lot for one of his casinos.
Jeb Bush used the opportunity to draw blood. He insisted to Trump “a limousine parking lot for his casinos is not a public use”. Bush went on to brag that, in Florida, “based on what we did we made that impossible as part of the constitution.” Trump used the opportunity to mock Bush as “a tough guy,” and held a single finger to his lips to urge Bush to be quiet. This set off a cascade of boos from the audience which Trump welcomed.
Instead of rebutting Bush on the facts, Trump used the opportunity to play the villain to the crowd as if he was a heel in professional wrestling. “All of his donors and special interests, you know has tickets,” the real estate mogul said. “The reason they are not loving me is because I don’t want their money” as the audience kept on booing.
Christie is asked about Kasich questioning his success at creating jobs in New Jersey.
He says Kasich deserves credit for his record on jobs. But unfortunately John’s using old numbers, he says.
“New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years this year,” Christie says.
Then Christie tries to get another hit on Rubio. He’s dinged. But he keeps talking. “He acts as if he’s somehow disembodied from his bill... it was his bill. It was his idea.”
“I like my record. And by the way, I like Governor Kasich’s record too, he’s a good governor.”
Turns into a bit of a love fest between Kasich and Christie.
Kasich says common-sense regulations, lower taxes and a fiscal plan to balance the budget are the keys to economic growth, and he has put in place all three in Ohio.
It was evident within minutes of the debate that Marco Rubio had walked on to the stage with a target on his back, writes Sabrina Siddiqui in Manchester, with the Florida senator’s rivals seeking to halt his momentum ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
And Rubio, in arguably his weakest moment in any debate thus far, struggled to fend off an early attack from New Jersey governor Chris Christie over his relative inexperience.
Asked to defend himself against criticism that he has a thin resume for the nation’s top job, Rubio quickly cited some of his accomplishments in the US Senate before pivoting to Joe Biden. The vice president, Rubio said, “has been around for 1,000 years” and would not be fit to be commander in chief.
“Marco, you shouldn’t compare yourself to Joe Biden,” Christie said, before pointing out Rubio named as an achievement passing sanctions against Hezebollah despite skipping the vote on the actual legislation.
“That’s not leadership, that’s truancy. I like Marco … but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States.”
Rubio initially sought to fight back by going after Christie’s record in New Jersey, a state that has under his stewardship undergone several credit downgrades. But the Florida senator quickly pivoted to his talking points about Obama, going on to repeat the same answer three times in a row in a brutal back-and-forth with Christie.
Although Rubio took a few shots at Christie, charging that the governor was “shamed” into leaving the campaign trail to tend to New Jersey after a recent snow storm, Rubio took on the form of a broken record. The senator’s inability to regain his control fed directly into the notion pushed by his Republican opponents that he sticks relentlessly to the same set of talking points.
Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, also chimed in to make the case that Rubio was ultimately untested.
“Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be president of the United States,” Bush said. “But we tried it with Barack Obama.”
Now for Trump: How many jobs would you create in the first term, and how?
Trump does not even come close to saying:
“I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico.
“I’m gonna bring jobs back, and I’m gonna start bringing them back very fast.
“We will bring back trillions of dollars from offshore.”
Assertion, assertion, assertion.
They’re back! Here goes Kasich. He was endorsed by the New York Times – no recommendation in the eyes of the right. How would you change conservatism? he’s asked.
Kasich points out that the New York Times said “He’s certainly not a moderate.”
“In America, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody should rise.”
Trump gets the same question.
“To me I view the word conservative as derivative of the word conserve. We want to conserve our money. We want to conserve our worth... We want to conserve our country.”
Rubio: “I think conservatism is about three things”: 1/ Limited government. 2/ Free enterprise. 3/ Strong national defense.
“That’s conservatism,” he concludes. Good answer!
Commercial break, after a solid hour.
Who’s winning?
What do you think of those Christie-Rubio fireworks?
What about that booing of the crowd of Donald Trump? Did Bush actually land a punch?
Where’s Kasich tonight?
Why didn’t Carson walk onto the stage when he was called?
Did Cruz escape from the first few tough questions about how everybody else on stage thinks he’s been very naughty?
Trump booed thoroughly on eminent domain
Next question on eminent domain – the seizure of private property for the greater good, ostensibly.
Does Trump see eminent domain as a legit way to take property?
“So many people have hit me with commercials. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country. For our country. Without it you wouldn’t have roads... you wouldn’t have bridges,” Trump says.
“The Keystone Pipeline without eminent domain, it wouldn’t go ten feet.
“When eminent domain is used on somebody’s property, that person gets a fortune... without eminent domain, you don’t have roads highways schools hospitals - none of it.”
Bush hits Trump, describing the “difference between eminent domain for public purpose” and private purposes.
“What Donald Trump did was try to take the property of an elderly woman in Atlantic City to turn it into a limousine parking lot for his casino,” BUsh says.
Then Bush and Trump really spark – and the crowd turns on Trump.
“Jeb wants to be a tough guy. He wants to be a tough guy. I didn’t take the property.”
Then Trump straight-up shushes Bush:
“He wants to be a tough guy. Let me talk. Quiet.”
Trump is booed.
“That’s all of his donors and special interests out there.”
Booed.
“We needed tickets. You can’t get them. You know who has the tickets. Donors, special interests.”
Trump booed and booed and booed.
Updated
Cruz takes the question and talks and talks. Then Carson gets the question about what to do about and with Obamacare.
“I was hoping to get the chance to talk about North Korea,” Carson says. But he lets it go.
“I have proposed a health empowerment account system...[from birth to death] we pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with. Each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman.”
“Go to my web site, BenCarson.com, and read about it.”
Trump: Nobody dies in the street
Trump’s asked whether, with his past support for some kind of universal health care system, he isn’t close-ish to Vermont senator Bernie Sanders on the issue.
“I don’t think I am. I think I’m closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace it with something so much better. .. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare.. we’re going to end it.”
He says he could pull it off because he’s not bought and sold by the insurance lobby. He does not mention the Congress that would have to draft and pass whatever new law he’s talking about.
Then Trump gets strangely ... real:
“There’s a certain number people who will be on the street dying. As a Republican, I don’t want that to happen. You can’t have people dying on the street.
You’re not going to let people die sitting in the middle of the street, in any city in this country.”
Christie gets to punch Rubio again!
“He didn’t answer the question,” Christie says. He’s applauded. The crowd likes his critique of Rubio’s rhetoric.
“The question was did he fight for his legislation? It’s abundantly clear that he didn’t,” Christie says. “...The fact of the matter is, a leader has to fight, not to handicap it and say if I can’t handle it, I’ll run. That’s not leadership, that’s Congress.”
Rubio’s apt retort:
“Leadership is about solving the problem.”
Rubio is asked about the “Gang of 8” immigration bill, which provided a path to citizenship for some undocumented migrants.
Rubio gives his usual answer, which is that his legislation didn’t work. For some reason this is seen as a viable defense.
“Here’s the bottom line: We can’t get that legislation passed,” Rubio says. Then he calls for a secure border.
“Did you fight for the legislation at the time, or did you run from it?” follow-up question.
“Well the legislation passed [the senate], but it has no support!” Rubio says.
On to Cruz. “We’re going to build a wall!” he says.
Trump reacts with a huge eyeroll and waved arms. He recognizes the policy proposal. It’s familiar from somewhere.
“Since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say that we’ve got somebody in mind to build it,” Cruz quips.
Cruz is pressed: What about the families?
“What you do is enforce the law,” Cruz says. He says under federal immigration law, if someone is here illegally they should be deported.
“Enforcing the law is feasible, what is missing is the political will.”
Updated
On to immigration. Kasich gets the question.
No commercial breaks for this crew. Maybe they couldn’t sell any ads against this.
Kasich is asked whether he disagrees with Rebuplican voters on the topic of immigration.
“We have to have practical solutions,” Kasich says. “We have to finish the border.. the country has to be able to lock its doors.”
Then Kasich says he supports legal status for undocumented migrants who pay back taxes and other fines. Out of step with Republican voters.
“Taking a mom and dad out of a house who haven’t commited a crime since they’ve been here? Leaving the children in the house?” says Kasich. “That is not in my opinion the kind of values we believe in.”
Next to Christie: Would you negotiate with North Korea?
He says he learned as a federal prosecutor, “You never pay ransom to the criminals.”
“They do not understand anything but toughness and strength.. we need to engage with the Chinese.
“This president and his secretary of state are for paying ransom for hostages.” Not true, in serial publicly known cases, in Syria at least.
Trump: Let China 'solve' North Korea problem'
Trump is asked if he has any red lines on North Korea. He says he disagrees with Rubio’s assessment of Obama as intelligent. “I think he has no idea what he’s doing, and our country’s going to hell.”
He says he deals with the Chinese “all the time.” “They have absolute practical control of North Korea,” he says.
“I would get on with China. Let them solve that problem.”
Rubio gets the question back, and says North Korea should go back on the list of terrorist nations. But he seems, ever so slightly, shaken, perhaps wounded from Christie’s abrasions earlier, pointed directly at what Rubio usually does so well, which is speak.
Here’s a brief round-up of Twitter reaction to that bizarre opening:
This is the most amazingly screwed up entrance to a political event I've ever seen and I cover UK politics for a living. #gopdebate
— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) February 7, 2016
ABC debate moderators: YOU HAD ONE JOB
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) February 7, 2016
"That's a good sign" say the hosts. It was a car crash.
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) February 7, 2016
"You forgot Kasich." -- Ben Carson #GOPDebate
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) February 7, 2016
Has ABC News ever introduced candidates before?
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 7, 2016
Train. Wreck.
— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal) February 7, 2016
OMG let's cancel the rest of the debate, that was perfect.
— Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) February 7, 2016
The SNL writers are furiously rewriting tonight's show.
— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) February 7, 2016
A tweet just before the debate from the Observer’s Michael Cohen seems eerily prescient ...
LET'S GET READY TO BUMBLE!!!
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) February 7, 2016
Kasich finally gets the mic, on the North Korea question.
“Well we’ve got to step up the pressure,” he says. Then he critiques the conversation that came before.
“Every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what we saw here.”
Kasich calls for sanctions on North Korea, a la Iran. “We’ve got to be very tough on this. I think we could’ve let the Japanese know, that if you want to take action, you will have our support.
“We cannot continue to be weak in the face of North Korea and the rest of the world.”
Cruz is asked about the North Korea ballistic missile launch announced just before the debate began.
Cruz says the launch is the fault of the first Clinton administration, and the easing of sanctions on North Korea negotiated by Wendy Sherman who – Cruz notes significantly – also led negotiations on the Iran deal.
Then Cruz jumps into the electromagnetic pulse exploding satellite scenario. EMP! The Republicans’ favorite doomsday scenario.
Cruz is asked whether he would blast a North Korean launch from afar. Cruz replies that he doesn’t have the intelligence. Then he says the North Korean threat points to the danger of the Iranian nuclear deal.
He’s applauded.
Jeb Bush gets the floor. He beats on Rubio too, saying that Barack Obama was another young senator who was good at speaking but couldn’t lead. But that came at the end of a minutes-long Bush speech that did not live up to the drama that had come before.
Major Christie-Rubio food fight
Rubio says under Christie in New Jersey, his state’s credit rating was downgraded nine times.
Then Christie seriously lifts the curtain on Rubio, trying to reveal a tiny Wizard behind the mighty Oz.
“That’s what Washington DC does. The drive-by shot at the beginning, with incorrect information, and then the memorized 25-second speech that his advisers gave him,” Christie says.
“The 30 second speech doesn’t solve one problem.”
Rubio jumps back in and says Christie did not want to go back for the snowstorm that hit New Jersey two weeks ago. Go back from New Hampshire campaigning. Then Rubio shifts to attacking Barack Obama.
Christie is not letting up. Truly great guns. And Christie appears to be winning, he’s applauded while Rubio is... booed?
“There it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is everybody,” says Christie. Cheers.
Rubio: “You didn’t want to go back!”
Christie: “Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator, ESP also?”
Big cheers!
Chris Christie has already achieved what he aimed to in this debate: got himself noticed and knocked the shine off Rubio #GOPDebate
— Jonathan Freedland (@Freedland) February 7, 2016
Updated
Christie to Rubio: 'you have not been involved in a consequential decision'
Christie attacks Rubio directly: “You have not been involved in a consequential decision, where you had to be held accountable, you just simply haven’t.”
The crowd goes ooooh.
The Republicans are taking a cue from the Democrats here, trading real punches.
Christie says Rubio wasn’t even around to vote on the Hezbollah sanctions act, which Rubio listed as an accomplishment. “That’s not leadership, that’s truancy.”
Rubio is asked what successes he has to show in his years in electoral politics that show he’s ready to be president. He skims through his work in Florida, including protecting the VA.
If the presidency becomes electing the people who have been in Congress the longest, we should rally around Joe Biden. He’s been in Congress a thousand years.
Carson rebuts Cruz. He points out that CNN corrected its report on Twitter in One Minute - not hours later as Cruz said.
“What happened to that one is unclear,” Carson says. “Everybody can see what happen and you can make your own judgments.”
Cruz: 'Ben, I'm sorry'
Cruz’s offense in question was to allow his camp to send an email saying that Carson had withdrawn.
“When this transpired I apologized to him then, and I do so now. Ben, I’m sorry,” Cruz says.
Cruz blames CNN, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash by name.
“My political team saw CNN’s report, breaking news, and they forwarded this report to volunteers... I knew nothing about this.”
Then he says his staff should have double-checked the report.
Updated
Carson is asked about his camp’s assessment of Cruz’s Iowa shenanigans as being “deceitful.”
“When I wasn’t introduced number two as the plan I thought that maybe you thought that I’d already dropped out,” Carson quips.
Then Carson invokes Reagan, the birthday boy. “His 11th commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican... I’m not going to savage the reputation of Ted Cruz... I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me ... to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus, and just say forget about you guys – who would do something like that?”
He calls it “a good example of Washington ethics.”
Cruz takes the question. “I am convinced anyone standing on this stage would make a much better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary clinton or Bernie Sanders,” Cruz says.
Cruz is pressed about specifically questioning Trump’s temperament, specifically.
“I think that is an assessment the voters are going to make, and they’re going to make it of each and every one of us,” Cruz waffles.
Trump is leering at him.
“First of all I respect what Ted just said. But if you noticed, he didn’t answer your question. And that’s what’s going to happen with our enemies... we’re gonna win with Trump. And people back down with Trump.”
Trump uses Cruz as a stand-in for China and Mexico under the Trump candidacy.
Trump: 'I talked about Muslims. We have a problem'
The debate starts with Trump asked about Cruz saying Trump would “nuke Denmark” if he were president.
“I actually think I have the best temperament,” Trump says. He says he’s gotten along with people for “years and years.”
He points out, correctly, that he broke the ice for Republicans on immigration and other signpost issues in this campaign.
“I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem.”
Trump says his opposition to the Iraq war proves his calm.
“I’m not one with the trigger. Other people up here believe me would be a lot faster.”
Muir has to specifically ask Carson to take the stage. And he finally... does.
Then the moderators forget to introduce Kasich. Christie reminds them. Here comes Kasich.
Action! Well that part was difficult. But now they are all safely installed behind the lecterns.
In the moderators’ defense, that was a seriously strange curveball from Carson, with the collusion of Trump.
Carson refuses to take stage
The candidates are being introduced. First is Chris Christie, who storms the stage like a bull. Second is Dr Ben Carson... who extremely awkwardly lingers offstage. Carson is not moving. A producer is trying to wave him onto the stage.
What is happening? Carson refuses to take the stage.
There goes Bush. Trump has stopped to talk with Carson.
Updated
Ha! There’re Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, doing Statler and Waldorf, the beloved Muppet peanut gallery, in an ABC News promo for the debate.
Short spot:
McCain: I don’t think this one will be very good, Lindsey.
Graham: Why’s that?
McCain: Because we’re not in it.
Guess who was born on 6 February? A certain Republican president who just might receive some birthday wishes from the stage in Manchester:
Ronald Reagan (born 105 years ago today) & rivals in 1980 New Hampshire debate: #AP pic.twitter.com/B4ocm2ZcO7
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) February 7, 2016
Updated
Donald Trump can’t emphasize enough his excitement to join tonight’s debate, after skipping the last one, in New Hampshire – after he cancelled an event here Friday on account of snow.
I love New Hampshire - will be an exciting evening!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2016
Very exciting!
Debate ready!!! @realDonaldTrump #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #TrumpTrain pic.twitter.com/qE6suiO315
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) February 6, 2016
More exclamation points!!!
The chairman of the Democratic National Committee accuses the Republican party of seeking to conceal their debate tonight by scheduling it ... on the weekend with the heaviest TV viewership of the year, Super Bowl weekend.
Hmmm, wondering why @GOP trying to hide their #GOPdebate on the Saturday of #SuperBowl weekend no less?!
— D Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) February 6, 2016
Particularly befuddling given the Democrats’ original plan to host only six debates, and scheduling the majority on weekend nights over three-day holiday weekends.
Seriously?
Updated
With the onward rush of the Republican debate cycle it’s easy to lose the narrative thread (could it be that there’s actually no thread?). For those in whom the untraceable twists induce a sense of malaise – we refer you to our live coverage of the previous debate, which we summarized like so:
- The knives were out for Texas senator Ted Cruz, who is polling second behindTrump in Iowa. Florida senator Marco Rubio said Cruz’s campaign was built on a “lie” of shifting positions for votes.
- It was a substantive debate. Body cameras for police, Libya, Iran, Kim Davis, mental illness, Bridgegate, immigration, Isis, Obamacare, veterans’ affairs, Bill Clinton’s affairs – it was all in there.
- Speaking of shifting positions, the moderators strived to pin Cruz and Rubio down on immigration, using video medleys of their most blatant calls for a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants to prove that they had in the past supported a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. The pair waffled.
Read more:
Democrats unilaterally changed Iowa precinct result
Republicans are crying foul about the Iowa result, but the Democratic contest was much closer – and, it develops, perhaps much messier, Guardian political reporter Ben Jacobs wrote:
In the Iowa Democratic party’s chaotic attempt to report caucus results on Monday night, the results in at least one precinct were unilaterally changed by the party as it attempted to deal with the culmination of a rushed and imperfect process overseeing the first-in-the-nation nominating contest.
Read the full piece here:
Did you sleep through the week in politics? Here’s what you missed: Marco Rubio won Iowa by coming in third, everybody ganged up on actual winner Ted Cruz, Donald Trump threw a Twitter fit and said he was robbed, the Democrats staged an unusually pugnacious debate, and Jeb Bush was reduced to pleading for applause.
It’s all right here in our two-minute video roundup:
Gloria Steinem appears to have offended a large group of Bernie Sanders supporters by suggesting that his young female supporters are only backing the senator because of “boys”, Adam Gabbatt reports from North Hampton, New Hampshire.
The feminist writer and activist made the comments on Bill Maher’s show on Friday. Steinem suggested young women prefered Sanders to Hillary Clinton because:
Women are more for [Clinton] than men are. Men tend to get more conservative because they gain power as they age, women get more radical because they lose power as they age.
They’re going to get more activist as they grow older. And when you’re younger, you think: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie.’
Many young female Sanders supporters were unhappy with this characterization.
“Gloria Steinem’s statement was the worst kind of sweeping generalization I’ve heard in years about women my age,” said Moumita Ahmed, 25. She has been campaigning for Sanders as one of the leaders of the Millenials for Bernie movement.
“I was hurt because I consider her to be an icon of the feminist movement,” she continued. “I identify as a feminist. I’m not sure how she could admit us young women are graduating with more debt and earning less money, then say young women are supporting Bernie Sanders to impress all the boys.”
Tennessee Thomas, 31, has been hosting Sanders campaigning events at her shop The Deep End Club in New York City’s East Village. She was similarly unimpressed.
“I am supporting Bernie Sanders because of where he stands on the issues,” she said. “It wasn’t a good statement. The left needs to unify. We should be allowed to support who we want without attacking each other.”
She added: “I could list a million reasons why I prefer Bernie to Hillary. She supported the KXL pipeline, was in favor of TPP and opposed gay rights until 3 years ago.”
A tweet from Sanders on Saturday may have been a response to the controversy:
These are just a few of the women leading our political revolution in New Hampshire. #FITN pic.twitter.com/d29Hgzbzbd
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 6, 2016
Don’t believe in TV? You can watch tonight’s debate on your computer on the ABC web site:
WATCH LIVE: @ABC News #GOPDebate coverage begins now! https://t.co/O7UNVxqMVb pic.twitter.com/pPifFIwGEh
— ABC News (@ABC) February 6, 2016
Behind the scenes of the Republican debate … with reporters. Guardian political reporter Ben Jacobs does a walking tour of the arena at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
NB: Ben’s peers filmed the video on Periscope, so mobile users need the app. On a computer it should work fine, though.
Crack @guardian reporter @bencjacobs takes his colleagues on a hilarious walking tour of the Republican debate arena https://t.co/MzfVs8bfg2
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) February 6, 2016
Hello and welcome to our livewire coverage of the eighth Republican presidential debate of the 2016 cycle. The action tonight is happening in snowy Manchester, New Hampshire. Guardian political reporters Sabrina Siddiqui and Ben Jacobs are at the scene.
Tonight marks the return to the debate stage of polling frontrunner Donald Trump, who skipped last month’s debate in Des Moines, Iowa, because host network Fox News hurt his feelings. Trump ended up finishing second in Iowa, despite leading the polling averages in the run-up to the caucuses.
With just three days to go until New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary contest, Trump enjoys an even stronger polling lead than he had in Iowa. But his rivals, notably Ohio governor John Kasich and Florida senator Marco Rubio, have been gaining ground.
Ted Cruz, the winner in Iowa, has slipped a bit in the most recent New Hampshire polls, owing perhaps to voter wariness of aggressive Cruz campaign tactics in Iowa that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson decried as “dirty tricks” and un-Christian besides. We’ll see whether and how that mini-drama plays out tonight.
Rounding out the field are former Florida governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey governor Chris Christie, both of whom have staked their campaigns on a strong New Hampshire showing – though there’s reason to doubt their strategies are working.
There’s no “undercard” debate tonight – we commiserate with you about that – and so in just a half hour’s time it will be directly to the main proceedings.
If you make it through the debate, there’s a special reward: we’re going to watch Bernie Sanders face off against Larry David on Saturday Night Live. David is leading in the polls but Sanders has a better ground game?
But more seriously – is Trump really on track to take New Hampshire? Who needs to shine tonight? Who’s overrated/underrated? Let us know in the comments! And thanks for joining us on your pre-Super-Bowl Saturday.
Appearing tonight:
- Former Florida governor Jeb Bush
- Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson
- New Jersey governor Chris Christie
- Texas senator Ted Cruz
- Ohio governor John Kasich
- Florida senator Marco Rubio
- Donald Trump
Moderating tonight will be crack ABC anchors David Muir and Martha Raddatz.
Updated
As much as i despise them all, Christie was the winner tonight. He was excellent, and took Rubio head on. The other Governors were also solid. But what happened to Rubio, an utter utter failure. That could be it for him.